YouTube is a huge video streaming platform that allows users across the world to upload their content for an audience of millions of people to watch.
YouTube has grown significantly since its inception, and the website is host to millions of channels, some of which are very popular and can be very profitable for content creators. The ability to make a living (and even get rich) is something unique to this day and age, and as a result many people have flocked to the site to showcase their content with high hopes of living their dream. With so many channels out there, it can be notoriously difficult to get noticed in the YouTube world, as you are competing with so many other channels. Furthermore, some categories of videos may be more popular than others (e.g. Gaming), and it can be even harder to get noticed as a result.
In order to build your channel and widen your audience, some marketing strategies should be used to do so.
Here are some marketing steps you can take in order to grow your YouTube channel.
Keep your titles exciting and engaging
In order to generate clicks and views, your titles for your videos need to be exciting, engaging and you need to make your audience want to click on your videos. You will notice that many big YouTube stars will have video titles that not only capture the eye of their current subscribers, but aim to draw in more and more viewers. This is done by creating titles that are interesting and will make the viewer curious, encouraging them to click on the video. You will likely never see videos with boring titles or generic ones that are the same as hundreds of others, with any significant views at all. Using question based titles or something that is involved in your video will make viewers curious to click and watch your video. Many YouTubers will resort to clickbait titles which are often misleading and can turn off viewers who click on them. This may net you views but will not create regular subscribers who will come back to watch your other videos.
Ensure you know what your target audience is looking for
Firstly, you should use an online dashboard for any YouTube Marketing! Use a dashboard like 500Views to boost your overall YouTube account. You should also know what is popular amongst your target audience, and cater your content towards these wants. This will make sure that the audience notices and is interested in your content. If you have just started your channel, look at big name channels within your category and see what they are doing and how many views they are getting as a result.
Catering your content to what the audience is viewing on other channels can create growth for your own channel. Moreover, you can look at YouTube analytics to see information about your audience such as age, gender, location etc. and cater your content towards the popular demographic in order to bring more growth from this audience.
Customized thumbnails
A thumbnail that has been customized to fit the YouTube video and its content looks much more professional than a random image taken from the video. This will help to show the viewers you are professional, and will encourage them to click on the video as a result. It also makes the video more appealing and can showcase what will be in the video. It is not that hard to create a customized thumbnail. You can use tools such as Canva or Photoshop to do so, and it will not take a lot of time at all. It is also important to make these thumbnails engaging to encourage the viewer to click on them.
In summary, YouTube marketing is very important, as you are competing against a huge range of different channels. You must cater towards your target demographic and market correctly (using the techniques above) to grow your channel over time.
Tina Johnson helped bring The Marketing Folks from a-weekly newsletter to a full-fledged news site by creating a new website and branding. She continues to assist in keeping the site responsive and well organized for the readers. As a contributor to The Marketing Folks, Tara mainly covers industry new.
